The Midnight Queen

"She saw you, then?" said Sir Norman.

"See me? I believe you! She has more eyes than ever Argus had, and each

one is as sharp as a cambric needle. Of course I apologized, and so on,

and she forgave me handsomely, and then we fell to discoursing--need I

tell you on what subject?"

"Love, of course," said Sir Norman.

"Yes, mingled with entreaties to take off her mask that would have moved

a heart of atone. It moved what was better--the heart of La Masque; and,

Kingsley, she has consented to do it; and she says that if, after seeing

her face, I still love her, she will be my wife."

"Is it possible? My dear Ormiston, I congratulate you with all my

heart!"

"Thank you! After that she left me, and I walked away in such a frenzy

of delight that I couldn't have told whether I was treading this earth

or the shining shares of the seventh heaven, when suddenly there flew

past me a figure all in white--the figure of a bride, Kingsley, pursued

by an excited mob. We were both near the river, and the first thing I

knew, she was plump into it, with the crowd behind, yelling to stop her,

that she was ill of the plague."

"Great Heaven! and was she drowned?"

"No, though it was not her fault. The Earl of Rochester and his

page--you remember that page, I fancy--were out in their barge, and

the earl picked her up. Then I got a boat, set out after her, claimed

her--for I recognized her, of course--brought her ashore, and deposited

her safe and sound in her own house. What do you think of that?"

"Ormiston," said Norman, catching him by the shoulder, with a very

excited face, "is this true?"

"True as preaching, Kingsley, every word of it! And the most

extraordinary part of the business is, that her dip in cold water has

effectually cured her of the plague; not a trace of it remains."

Sir Norman dropped his hand, and walked on, staring straight before him,

perfectly speechless. In fact, no known language in the world could have

done justice to his feelings at that precise period; for three times

that night, in three different shapes, had he seen this same Leoline,

and at the same moment he was watching her decked out in royal state in

the rain, Ormiston had probably been assisting her from her cold bath in

the river Thames.

Astonishment and consternation are words altogether too feeble to

express his state of mind; but one idea remained clear and bright amid

all his mental chaos, and that was, that the Leoline he had fallen in

love with dead, was awaiting him, alive and well, in London.

"Well," said Ormiston, "you don't speak! What do you think of all this?"